Instead Of Suing The Terrorists--Israeli Victims Are Now Suing The Country Behind Them In US Courts

I've been posting on and off about terrorists on trial, but now it looks like the victims are going after the enablers.

Starting with Iran.

85 Lebanon war victims sue Iran in US court

Dozens of Israelis wounded in Second Lebanon War file court suit in US against Iran's central bank and Iranian commercial banks. 'Without their money, Hezbollah would not have been able to train its terrorists or to fire at Israel'

Will the Hezbollah's Iranian connections be able to bring some compensation for the victims? Eighty-five Israelis who were wounded in the Second Lebanon War submitted a claim in US court for $1 billion against Iran's central bank and Iranian commercial banks, making it the first suit filed by Israeli terror victims against the Iranian banking system.


In their statement of claim, the victims, who were wounded or their loved ones were killed during the war, claimed that Tehran gave Hezbollah more than $50 million in the years leading up to the armed conflict with Israel with the declared intention of making it possible for them to fire at Israeli and American targets.

"I am one of the plaintiffs against the Iranian banks. Our objective is to reveal anyone who provides money and funds to terrorism and their methodology," explained Chaim Kaplan, a resident of Safed who was wounded along with his family members by rocket fire on the city.

It's important to note that going after Iran in particular and holding them responsible for the terrorist attacks of Hizbollah is not a matter of rumor--

Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, who submitted the claim to the Washington District Court, made a direct connection between the funds transferred from the Iranian central bank to Hezbollah and the damage caused to the said Israelis.

"The central bank of Iran and the Saderat Bank are the chief monetary pipelines from Iran to Hezbollah. Without these funds, Hezbollah would not have been able to build and maintain its infrastructure, to train the terrorists in its ranks, or carry out massive rocket fire at Israel," she explained.

Darshan-Leitner added, "These banks act freely and knowingly aid terrorism. They are responsible for the damages incurred on the civilians in these attacks."

She noted that the claim rests in part on an explicit finding of the US Treasury from 2007 that showed that between 2001 and 2006 the Iranian Bank Saderat transferred funds to Hezbollah in London with the objective of support terrorism.

Iran may very well claim that Hizbollah are just a bunch of freedom fighters, but the question is when in history have there ever been 'freedom fighters' who consistently made a point of threatening--and following through--on attacks on civilians?

See my posts on other terrorist trials.

Technorati Tag: Iran and Hizbollah.